Monday

Today was a great Monday, and I feel so blessed to be able to say that! I met with my friend Shari, a gifted personal trainer, who is also in transition from a stressful situation. We commiserated, compared notes and talked about the future over iced tea. After that, I met with Lynn, who runs an absolutely lovely, elegant skin care clinic with a huge emphasis on nutrition and total wellness, and it looks like I am going to be able to set up my bodywork practice there. I have never been in a negotiation that went so well - actually it was less like a negotiation and more like a meeting of two like minds. Lynn is all about serving her clients and helping them live happy healthy lives, and has built a very successful business doing just that. I think this is going to be a great fit for me and I'm excited about moving my practice into her place. We have a few details to work out - but all of the major deal breaker stuff has been agreed upon! More to come as things develop.

I got another huge clue about my health this morning. It's oppressively hot and humid again, and when we went for a walk, I started to get that breathless squeezing feeling in my chest, for the first time since I left my J-O-B. It was minor, really a ghost of what I experienced before, but I used the asthma inhaler Dr. # 2 prescribed and got complete relief, so, as he suspected, my breathlessness is about asthma. Asthma, exacerbated by work related stress and medicine that just doesn't agree with me, if you ask me.

Today is the most uplifting positive day since I made the decision to return to the wellness business, and I am so grateful to be "blessed and highly favored".

Obama Wellness Initiatives

I've been walking - and yesterday I worked out for the first time since the big health debacle. It really does not take long to lose muscle tone, as I learned again yesterday. Even though it was a short workout with baby weights (5 lbs) it felt great! Still no breathlessness...which lends credence to my "stress and meds" theory. What has left me breathless are the doctor's bills that have started rolling in. Oh my...

I've been reading about the Obama wellness initiatives for the workplace. No one really seems to know much about it yet - but I plan to keep on top of this as it develops. It's hopeful that we are maybe actually going to start paying attention to prevention. There is some controversy too. Some believe that giving reduced health insurance costs to employees who don't smoke or have a healthy body mass index is unfair to poor, uneducated and or fat people. Seriously? I just don't buy it that most folks can't figure out a way to add a little healthy movement into their lives without having to join a gym, and it does not cost any more to buy decent food, actually probably less, than cheetos and twinkies... so let's educate people about exercise and good nutrition, offer smoking cessation programs, and then let them decide for themselves whether the economic incentives make it worth changing their habits. Let's treat people like grownups, and perhaps they will live up to our belief in them rather than discouraging them by insisting that the poor things need special treatment because they have been disadvantaged in the past.

Back in the Saddle (so to speak)

At the end of a very long and very satisfying day. I saw my first bodywork client yesterday, and two more today. It is really wonderful to have a few clients who remain faithful to me after exactly a year long hiatus away from this business. Weird, too that it was exactly a year - I didn't plan it that way. My body is complaining just a teeny bit, but my spirit is satisfied. I love this part of what I do. I was truly burned out, mentally and physically when I stopped doing it and went to work for the telecomm company last year. Now I am burned out on selling phones and thrilled to be back. Funny.

I was not sure how it was going to be doing energy work again. Before, no matter how much I tried to keep my ego out of it, I was still pretty wrapped up with how well I was doing, and even though I would say it was up to God whether people got better, I don't think I really believed it. I thought I had to work at it, because that is how I was trained. Since I am not yet in great health, having just gone through the whole "holy crap you might be having a heart attack but it's really 'only' stress" scenario, I know I can't possibly be a powerful conduit on my own - which means God has got to do it or it ain't happenin'. And God was faithful today - and I got to be there. Studying the passages in the Bible that have to do with healing has had a huge impact on how I am working now. Today is a day when it is easy to be grateful.

More Medical Mayhem

So I went to both the cardiologist and the internist. The cardiologist gave me a prescription for antacids because he thinks that I'm having some weird acid reflux thing and it's causing the breathing problems. The internist thinks the cardiologist is making a stab in the dark and told me not to take the antacids and gave me a prescription for an asthma inhaler. Neither one thinks the drug I was on could possibly have anything to do with my symptoms, despite the fact that they started after I started taking it, and have markedly improved since I stopped. Go figure. Is it that hard to admit that the patient might be right?

Here's the great thing - those stairs that were the start of this whole episode of medical mayhem? I went up all four flights on Monday and again today and I was able to carry on a conversation after I did. I'm telling you this stuff not because I think my medical history is that interesting but as a cautionary tale, maybe aimed more at myself than at anyone else. Once the sickness industry train gets rolling it's hard to get off. I don't want to be an anti-medicine fanatic; I think fanaticism in any form is a bad. I know doctors are well-meaning and doing the best that they can. But, it's a scary thing when no one is willing to listen to the patient, when the medical history they take (I got a copy) is full of errors, and the procedure they do sets up a chain of events that result in a visit to the emergency room with a condition that is potentially much more threatening than the original reason for seeking treatment. Moral of the story (again, for my own benefit) is to do whatever it takes to stay well.

I started the diet on Monday and have done really well (though not perfectly) so far, and I have started walking again. I will need to condition slowly - I have lost muscle tone and my cardiovascular endurance is nil. But I can start! The docs have given me the OK to resume my life, including workouts - which is a good thing, because who ever heard of a wellness coach who is in such bad shape?

Hallelujah, free at last!

Well it's official. I am no longer anyone's employee. Exhilarating and scary! It's up to us now to make life work without the safety net of the bi-weekly paycheck. The upside of course, it that the work-stress is gone. The work phone is gone. No more fires to put out. Whew... I am just beginning to decompress. As my first official act, I have painted my toenails. This falls into the category of wellness, well, because...it makes me feel happy to look down at me feet and see them painted. It's such a simple thing really, but one I did not have time for in the past several weeks - and now I do.
We're going to our TEAM/MonaVie monthly seminar this afternoon, and we're bringing a new friend with us. I've been religiously drinking the juices and they are helping me to feel better and to recover from this crazy episode in my life and get back on track. I can't wait to see what happens next now that I am in the new part of my life! I know God has great things in store for us.

Getting Ready to Launch

Wow, I only have three more hot pink and chartreuse squares on the countdown calendar on my refrigerator and then I start the next chapter of my life. I have been busy learning how to populate my blog with all of the fun peripheral stuff that might make me a few bucks to spend at Amazon or just look pretty and lend visual interest. I remember trying to blog a few years ago and how clunky and impossible the templates and software were. Google has come a long way since then - it's almost plug and play - even a non-techy person like me can do it. Then there's the update to my LinkedIn profile, and trying to figure out what kind of photo to post on my professional page on Facebook.
I'm thinking about the food plan I want to start on Monday, when I actually will be able to eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours to rev up my metabolism, instead of ignoring my body for eight hours at a stretch like I sometimes do now. There are things I have to do, like getting on a scale, and taking an initial set of body measurements, to get a baseline so that I can gauge how well I am doing with losing weight and getting back my muscle tone. In the crock-pot is a batch of low-sodium marinara sauce, simmering and sending out heavenly smells. Tomato-ey, as Homer Simpson would say. I'll be putting that in canning jars and into the freezer tonight; no more store bought, high sodium, high fructose (albeit yummy) spaghetti sauce for me. I've also been thinking about how I want to reward myself each week that I show progress on the scale. I'm thinking sushi.  It won't blow my food plan, yet it feels like a  decadently extravagant treat. Especially if the only time I have it is when I've had a victory. Sushi it is, and maybe a new article of clothing when I hit a milestone (like ten pounds?) How do you reward yourself when you are trying to implement a healthy new habit?

Counting down the days

I made it through day two of my return to work at the phone store. Only four more to go, and then my new life as a Wellness Coach officially begins. It's funny how now that I know that I am leaving everything looks different there. It's still an insane environment and yet it does not bother me all that much now that my days are numbered (four).
I'm looking forward to being able to eat small frequent meals again. Some days at the store (like yesterday) are so non-stop busy that I have tea and a home-made muffin and then nothing or nearly nothing for the rest of the day. Which is so bad on so many levels ...but looking at just one - it's metabolically stupid. My body thinks I'm in danger of starving and my metabolism slows down and weight loss, even weight maintenance, becomes darn near impossible. A life saver for me has been a can of MonaVie Emv (a healthy - no kidding - energy drink) and a small handful of toasted almonds or walnuts. It's something simple that I can eat & drink while I keep moving and it's really healthy and filling. Almonds and walnuts are both high in calcium, trace minerals, B vitamins and essential fatty acids, not to mention they are filling and taste really good. I learned from Sally Fallon's amazing cookbook "Nourishing Traditions" how to slow-toast nuts so that they retain the maximum amount of nutrition and taste wonderful. It's really easy, too. I soak them overnight in filtered water with a handful of sea salt added. Then in the morning I spread them on cookie sheets or jelly pans and slide them into a low (150 F) oven. By evening they are crunchy and delicious. They store well in airtight containers, in or out of the fridge. Mmmm - making myself hungry.

Sick Girl Writing Wellness Blog - Ha!

So here I am, re-inventing myself for, oh, I don't know, maybe the 10th time, as a Wellness Coach. And I'm writing this from the couch in my living room, where I am on strict bed-rest with a sand bag on my groin to keep my right femoral artery from leaking following a cardiac catheterization. The irony in this is not lost on me.
I had been thinking about leaving my insanely hectic and crazy job with a major player in the telecommunications field, in large part because the stress was becoming pretty overwhelming. I don't plan to badmouth them, and I pray I can stick to my plan, because the company itself does a great job servicing it's customers, it just has a - shall we say, interesting disconnect about how it treats its employees. Enough said. The handwriting was on the wall, time to make plans to go.
I went to work for them about a year ago, in large part because it was a way to get decent, affordable health insurance. More irony. Before that I had been working in the wellness field for twenty years, mostly doing therapeutic massage and CranioSacral therapy. A failing economy and rising health care costs pushed me to make a pragmatic but joyless change, and I know I am not alone.
I suffer from migraines, and my this January, my employer's new health insurance provider announced to me that they were not willing to pay for the amount of expensive migraine medication I require unless I looked into (cheaper) migraine prevention medicines. My doctor suggested and prescribed a drug and we were off and running, right into the brick wall I hit two weeks ago when I walked up four flights of stairs and couldn't breathe. I won't bore you with all of the details, but 2 visits to the ER, one over night stay at the hospital, and many expensive medical tests later, here I am. I believe that my shortness of breath is a side effect of my medication...and seems to be getting better now that I am no longer taking it. So far, I can't get any of my medical consultants (doctors) to believe me, though they can't explain why I failed a cardiac stress test, but my coronary arteries are textbook pretty.
So I've been through a series of medical misadventures at the hands of a bunch of highly trained and well meaning doctors, and it has me more convinced than ever that wellness is the only thing that makes sense. Good nutrition, stress reduction, exercise, adequate rest, meaningful work, a sense of purpose, prayer, good relationships with others and a right relationship with God are the things I will be exploring and incorporating in my life to the extent of my imperfect human ability.  I've learned a lot of stuff over the years in the business and it didn't save me from becoming unwell... I've got my own wellness journey to take, and you're welcome to come along for the ride.

Update: Just returned from Dr. M who is subbing for Dr. B who is in Europe for another couple of weeks. I am officially off the couch! Walking, yes, work, yes, sex, YES, lifting anything over 2 pounds, no. Woohoo, I feel like I pulled the get out of jail free card. Thank you, Jesus.